Tel Aviv, Israel — Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas called on all parties to immediately accept a detailed proposal by US President Joe Biden end the nearly eight-month war and bring their relatives home, but Israel’s government said conditions for a ceasefire must still be met.
Biden outlined a three-phase deal proposed Friday by Israel to Hamas, saying the militant group is “no longer capable” of carrying out another large-scale attack against Israel. He urged the Israelis and Hamas to reach a deal to free about 100 remaining hostages, along with the bodies of about 30 other people, for a prolonged ceasefire in Gaza.
Ceasefire talks stalled last month after a major effort by the United States and other mediators to secure an agreement in hopes of preventing a full Israeli invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Israel says Operation Rafah is vital to uprooting Hamas fighters responsible for the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war.
Israel confirmed on Friday its The troops operated in the central areas of the city. The ground attack has caused an exodus of around 1 million Palestinians out of the city and thrown into confusion UN humanitarian operations based in the area.
After Biden’s speech, the hostages’ families said time was running out on Saturday and that both Israel and Hamas had a responsibility to accept the deal.
“We want to see people return from Gaza alive and soon,” Gili Roman told The Associated Press. Her sister, Yarden Roman-Gat, was taken hostage and released during a week-long ceasefire in November, but Yarden’s sister-in-law, Carmel, remains detained.
“This could be the last chance to save lives. Therefore, the status quo must be changed and we hope that everyone will adhere to Biden’s call to accept the deal that is on the table, immediately. There is no other path to a better situation for everyone. Our leadership must not let us down. But above all, all eyes should be on Hamas,” he said.
The proposal came after what the hostage families said was a aggressive meeting on thursday with Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, who told them that the government was not ready to sign an agreement to bring all the hostages home and that there was no plan B.
Hanegbi said this week that he expects the war to drag on for another seven monthsin order to destroy the military and governance capabilities of Hamas and the smaller militant group Islamic Jihad.
Netanyahu promised a “total victory” that would remove Hamas from power, dismantle its military structure and return hostages, and on Saturday the government said its conditions for ending the war had not changed. Establishing a permanent ceasefire before conditions are met is “a failure,” he said.
Many hostage families blame the government’s unwillingness to reach an agreement for the deaths of many of the hostages in captivity.
“We know that the Israeli government has done a lot to delay reaching an agreement and that has cost the lives of many people who survived in captivity for weeks and weeks and months and months. “Our hearts are broken by the number of people we will receive who are no longer alive,” Sharone Lipschitz told the AP. Her mother, Yocheved, was released after the November ceasefire, and her father, Oded, remains in captivity.
The first phase of the agreement announced by Biden would last six weeks and include a “total and complete ceasefire,” a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of several hostages, including women. , elderly and wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The second phase would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. The third phase calls for the start of a major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding after the devastation caused by the war.
Biden acknowledged that keeping the Israeli proposal on track would be difficult and said there were a number of “details to negotiate” to move from the first phase to the second. The proposal says that if negotiations last longer than six weeks for phase one, the ceasefire will continue as long as there are negotiations. Israel will always have the right to defend itself against security threats. Biden said that if Hamas does not fulfill its commitment under the agreement, Israel can resume military operations.
Hamas said in a statement on Friday that it considered the proposal presented by Biden “positive” and called on the Israelis to declare an explicit commitment to an agreement that includes a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, an exchange of prisoners and other measures. conditions.
Although the proposal is similar to previous ones, the main difference is the willingness to stop the war for an indefinite period, according to analysts. It still leaves Israel the option of renewing the war and diminishing Hamas’s ability to govern, but over time, said Michael Milshtein, director of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center.
Still, experts say Biden’s speech was one of the first times in the war that he provided hope that it could end and bring the hostages home.
“It was a very good speech… it seems like Biden is trying to impose it on the Israeli government, he was clearly speaking directly to the Israeli people,” said Gershon Baskin, Middle East director at the International Communities Organization. Israelis must take to the streets to demand that the Israeli government accept this, he said.
The international community also urges that the proposal be accepted. On Saturday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called it an “urgent hope” for lasting peace. She said it is now up to Hamas to show that it wants to end the conflict.
Meanwhile, fighting continued in Gaza.
On Saturday, Israel’s military said it killed a Hamas fighter responsible for leading attacks in Israel and the West Bank, and earlier this week it said its aircraft killed a Hamas fighter in central Gaza who was head of the technology department of its internal security forces.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas attack on October 7 in which militants swept into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250. More than 36,170 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel’s bombing campaign and offensives, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Its count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
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Associated Press writer David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed to this report.
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